Michigan vs TCU prediction, game preview, odds, how to watch. College Football Playoff Vrbo Fiesta Bowl, Saturday, December 31
Michigan vs TCU College Football Playoff Vrbo Fiesta Bowl Prediction Game Preview
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Michigan vs TCU How To Watch
Date: Saturday, December 31
Game Time: 4:00 ET
Venue: State Farm Stadium, Glendale, AZ
How To Watch: ESPN
Record: Michigan (13-0), TCU (12-1)
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Michigan vs TCU College Football Playoff Vrbo Fiesta Bowl 5 Things To Know
– Why Michigan will win. Why TCU will win
– College Football Playoff Vrbo Fiesta Bowl Prediction, What’s Going To Happen, History
– It didn’t seem like it was “just the beginning” for Michigan, as Jim Harbaugh suggested coming off a 34-11 pasting from Georgia in last year’s College Football Playoff semifinal.
Harbaugh was 50/50 on going to the NFL – and was probably the Minnesota Viking head coach if he wasn’t lowballed – Ohio State was going to be back to its normal unbeatable self, and the Michigan program was going to settle back into being very good, but hardly among the elite of the elite.
And then it not only did it again, it was even better in an undefeated season with a crazily consistent offensive style of play that held for a full 12 games on the way to winning a second straight Big Ten title.
Last year, the Wolverines had done enough. They broke through, exorcised the Buckeye demon, and proved it was possible to win massive things under Harbaugh.
Not this time. Just getting here won’t get it done like it does for …
– TCU was one of the massive pleasant surprises of the 2022 season. New coach, program coming off a mediocre year, some rebuilding to do, and a schedule that looked a tad too daunting – some genius actually predicted TCU was going to lose to Colorado to start the season … I sought out professional help after that.
But head coach Sonny Dykes put together something magical. QB Max Duggan took over early and morphed into Max Tebow, the team found every way possible to win close games and pull off comebacks, and even getting here despite losing the Big 12 Championship was a charmed moment for the program.
It’s not like TCU hasn’t been close. It was No. 3 in the penultimate 2014 College Football Playoff rankings and got pushed out in the final version. In the CFP era this is the fourth season in nine with 11 or more wins, it knows how to crank up the offense, and it can pull the “nobody believes in us” attitude.
– This is TCU’s first bowl appearance since winning the 2018 Cheez-It 10-7 in OT – unquestionably the ugliest-played event in the history of sporting contests. However, the program has won four of its last five and ten of its last 13. On the flip side …
– Michigan has been a bowl game disaster. It lost five straight and is 3-12 since winning the 2003 Outback over Florida. Even worse, the last three bowl appearances were brutal blowouts, and the team melted down in the 2018 Outback loss to South Carolina and 2016 loss to Florida State. This is the first time Michigan has ever faced TCU.
– No pressure or anything, Fiesta Bowl, but College Football Playoff semifinal or not, you’re supposed to be amazing. Last year’s Oklahoma State comeback win over Notre Dame was one of the wildest moments of the bowl season. The 2019 Clemson win over Ohio State in the CFP semifinal screwed up The entire university for a full year – OSU was out of its mind over the way that game ended.
LSU getting by UCF the year before that was fun, Penn State getting by Washington the year before that was fun, and in all, four of the last five Fiesta Bowls have been outstanding – they needed to be to make up for the 31-0 uggo of a Clemson College Football Playoff semifinal win over Ohio State in 2016.
– Why Michigan will win. Why TCU will win
– College Football Playoff Vrbo Fiesta Bowl Prediction, What’s Going To Happen, History
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